The actual amount of red does not vary much between individuals, however the amount you can see varies a lot!! The red patch is normally obscured by the "normal" feathers, and is displayed when agitated or exhibiting territorial behavior. Depending on the mood of the bird, you may or may not be able to see a red patch as the individual goes about it's business. such energetic little birds! ~Matt On Wed, Nov 3, 2010 at 11:13 AM, Joanne Konst <[log in to unmask]>wrote: > On 11/3/2010 10:57 AM, Hutson, Timothy B wrote: > >> Joanne, >> >> Boy howdy is it not obvious! In all of the other pics I took, I see no >> evidence of color. Is this just non-breeding plumage or is it normal for >> this bird. >> >> The male can have a lot of red or a tiny amount. This may be a > female--no red patch. I should have thought it out better! My bad. > I've seen some where the patch was only visible if the bird was on a > low branch and I was looking practically over their head, and was > remebering those experiences. > > Joanne > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. > Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. > Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at > www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. > > You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS > Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] > -- ****************************************************** Matthew Shumar Research Associate / Project Coordinator Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas II The Ohio State University School of Environment and Natural Resources 2021 Coffey Road Columbus, Ohio 43210-1085 Phone: 614-247-6458; Fax: 614-292-7432 ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]